A Few Moments in a Day - The Man Card
by imdoingthiswhy
Summary: Castle's dad genes kick in to help Kate after an injury.


**AN:** There are some little moment ideas I've tried to work into a story and haven't found them a home, so there may be a few more of these 'moments in a day' until I get them out of my brain.

**A Few Moments in a Day**

The Man Card

"Dammit!" Kate grouched after she had already been heard growling in frustration a few times. She was only trying to get dressed for work, usually such a simple task…except for those mornings when Castle was trying to get her back out of her clothes as fast as she was trying to get in them. This time she was trying to accomplish it one-handed, though, and it wasn't going well…and in true Beckett fashion, she had refused Rick's offer of help.

"If you'd let me help, you wouldn't need to be in there growling and cursing all by yourself," Castle called from the kitchen, and he brought coffee with him when he returned to the bedroom.

"Okay, maybe I could use some help," Kate huffed ungraciously. "I managed to brush my hair and fought with the underwear until I won, but it was exhausting. I thought these straight legged slacks would be easier to get on, but it doesn't matter. It's all hard with one hand."

"I like these on you," Castle commented as he put the coffees on the night stand and straightened her slacks before he buttoned and zipped them for her. "I always make it a point to walk behind you now and then when you wear these."

"I know," she answered, dropping a little kiss on his lips. "Thank you. Sorry to be such a grump."

He smiled his smirky smile and asked, "Which shirt do you want? I'll get it for you."

"The red v-neck pullover. Yeah, I know. You like that, too. You really like that you're taller than I am when I wear that one, don't you?"

"You know me so well," he answered mischievously as he went to find the shirt.

"Your reward for helping."

When he returned with the shirt, he started with her injured side and slid the sleeve carefully over her arm and shoulder, jostling it as little as possible before putting it over her head just as carefully; then he simply held it where she could maneuver her good arm into the other sleeve on her own.

"Good work, writer-man. Was that a dad move?"

"Yeah. Old habits come back when you need them." He kissed her forehead. "Want some help with those boots?"

She sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Might as well. It's bound to go a lot faster if you do it." As he knelt and was putting her boots on for her, she said with a smile, "I think this may be a first…you trying to get me _into_ my clothes."

"I can be a gentleman when I have to." He stood and ruined the picture by asking, "Is everything good? Need any adjustments?" The question was accompanied by a quick eyebrow waggle, which made Kate laugh.

"All adjusted, thanks. We need to get going."

"Not without the final fashion accessory," Castle admonished and held up the 'medical blue' sling that would immobilize Kate's left arm.

"How could I forget?" she asked drily and accepted his help putting it on. He would just make himself obnoxious until she acceded to his demand to wear it. "I guess you get to drive today," she said, handing him her keys from the dresser.

"Sweet," he answered, grabbing their jackets from the closet on the way out.

xxxxx

Almost as soon as they got to the precinct, the captain called them to her office. There was a body found on the docks, a relatively high profile victim, and she wanted Beckett's team to take it. They were given the address and the sketchy information that was available, and the four of them left for the crime scene.

"And, Detective Beckett," Gates said as they were about to leave her office, "You're already injured. Let your team do the heavy lifting until you're healed. Be careful. That's an order."

"Yes sir," she answered, rolling her eyes as soon as she turned away from the Captain. "I hate this," she grumbled under her breath.

"You'll hate it more if you reinjure it and have to live with it twice as long," Castle pointed out, getting another growl in response.

xxxxx

Arriving at the address they were given, they ducked under the yellow tape, found where Lanie was kneeling beside the body, and got all the information the ME had gathered up to that point.

"What's with the sling? What happened?" Lanie asked after she had delivered her findings.

"Bad sprain," Beckett answered.

"Some little dirtbag in an alley tried to get away yesterday and shoved Kate into a brick wall," Castle explained. "She hit the edge of a dumpster and twisted as well as hitting the wall pretty hard."

"Yeah. It's probably good that we stopped him before Castle got to him," Ryan offered. "If the look on our boy's face was any indication, Mr. Dirtbag would have been ground into the pavement."

"Little protective there, Castle?" Lanie asked.

" Maybe," he answered. "I took care of Kate instead."

"Let's fan out and see what we can find," Beckett ordered, uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation as well as impatient to get started.

Castle stayed with Beckett and took notes for her while the boys separated and checked other areas. For ease in getting ready for work, Beckett had worn her hair down that morning. The slight breeze they felt in the city became more of a light wind there near the water, and now she had to keep pulling the long flying tresses from her face.

"Three or four cigarette butts here. Maybe somebody was waiting for him?" Castle suggested.

"Maybe. Bag those. We can check for DNA…see what we get."

Castle bagged the cigarette butts, noted the information about them, then put the bag in his pocket.

"My hair is driving me crazy," Beckett complained. "I can't keep it out of my face, and it's hard to see anything. I totally missed those cigarettes."

"You got a pony tail band or something?" Castle asked.

"Yeah. I always keep one in my jacket pocket. Won't do any good, though. I can't do that one-handed."

"Well, lucky for you, I have two available hands." He led her to where a couple of empty pallets were stacked beside a warehouse door. Checking for any sign of evidence first, he told Kate to sit down at the corner of the pallet where he could get behind her, and he proceeded to pull her hair into a French braid.

While he was working at that, Ryan and Esposito returned with another few bagged items, about to tell them what they'd found, when Esposito stopped dead in his tracks. "Dude," he said to Ryan in disgusted awe, "he's braiding her hair!"

"Geez, Castle, you gonna do each other's nails next?" Ryan asked, looking around for signs of other cops. "We're in a public place. You're shaming us."

"Yeah, Bro'. We're gonna have to confiscate your man card."

As he braided, Castle calmly stated, "I have written twenty best sellers, I've made good enough choices that the profits have grown into an amount that allows me to loan the two of you a Ferrari now and then, I've beat up on a hit man, saved our girl's hide as often as she's saved mine, I take good care of my family, and now and then I do some good detective work. This is not a skill I ever thought I'd own when I was young; but Alexis wanted to play soccer _and_ have long hair, and pony tails just fell out in about half an hour. The soccer moms took pity on me and taught me how to do this…one even let me practice on her younger daughter. The little girl didn't mind because I'd tell her stories while I practiced. I man'd up when I was younger than you and raised my little girl alone when her mother didn't want to be bothered with it...and I somehow managed to raise a fine young woman. So, gentlemen, if that isn't enough for you, you'll have to fight me for my man card."

"Okay. We'll give you a pass this time," Esposito answered grudgingly. "Just don't do this again in public."

"My partner couldn't see because her hair was being blown in her face, and she couldn't fix that one-handed. You want us to miss a good piece of evidence because she couldn't see it?"

"Stop hassling Castle and tell us what you found," Beckett demanded as Castle fastened the end of the braid with the band.

One of the boys' bagged items looked promising. All of them took another look and then checked the area the body was in again, looking at placement of the three gunshot wounds and speculating on where the shooter would have been. By the time Lanie had the body loaded to transfer it to the morgue, the detectives were ready to leave the crime scene to CSU for processing.

Ryan and Esposito left to log their finds into evidence while Castle and Beckett checked with Lanie once more to see if she had found anything else.

On the way back to Beckett's car, Kate and Castle were engaging in their usual back and forth.

"Thanks for the braid, Dad"

"Oh, no. You don't get to call me Dad. A thought like that might make my head explode."

Kate laughed.

"I have way too many un-dadly thoughts about you," he clarified.

"Un-dadly? Really, Mr. best-selling author?"

"You're seriously questioning a best-selling author? That's like me questioning your detective work."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Remember who you're talking to? Of course I'd dare, but I'm pretty sure I'd be sorry."

He opened the passenger side door for her and helped with the seat belt, making a few interesting 'adjustments' in the process and getting reprimands in response.

"Another reward for helping," he proclaimed unapologetically, then drove them back to the precinct, the bantering and smiles continuing all the way.


End file.
